quinceañera

Something new for us this past weekend.  Conrad and I (and our neighbour Natasha, and a pair of former neighbours and Marina, who went to Chile and Argentina with us) were invited to a quinceañera by the mother of the guest of honour, a 15 year-old named Naomi.  So we put on some nicer clothes and headed south in the metro and found ourselves at a church in Lynwood late Saturday afternoon.

It was a pleasant service that I understood almost nothing of - unsurprisingly, the service was almost entirely in Spanish.   If I'd known I would spend my life after 30 in the US and in SoCal in particular for most of it, then I would have studied that language in school.  My almost fully deteriorated French is no use at all, alas.

Anyway, it was a nice service, and then we headed to a banquet hall in Bell to attend the reception.

It was loud and energetic, and there was abundant food

(I really limited what I ate out of respect for the cleanse month).  Angie, Naomi's mother, introduced us to some of the family, including Naomi's grandmother, and made sure that we were part of the celebration.  Mostly, though, it was nice to be guests at something so important to Angie and her daughter.  No, we didn't know the customs or could follow the speeches, but you know, just enjoy the food and sway and tap to the music and clap and cheer.  Celebration is easy, after all.

And really, don't Naomi, Angie, and Naomi's grandmother look wonderful?

I'm appreciative of opportunities like this.  We left a little early, but I was so glad we went.